The Rank Railheads (RCL 40) showed this week they weren’t giving up without a fight, adding 2 points and retaking the lead as panthers_freak (We’ve Got the Runs — Baseball Reasons) slipped back into second, 2 behind in the Master Standings. The Railheads have an amazing 117 league points, and will have to keep it up there to make up for a lower league competitive index. They have a shot of matching or even beating the unbelievable mark of 118 set last year by Mike Stark (Better Lucky Than Good). The Railheads are currently scoring 10 points in steals, and sit 4 behind Marble Mountaineers and just 6 back of the leader, Poison Control. This week, Rank Railheads stole 12 bases, their best total this season, while the Mountaineers had 9 and Poison Control stole 6.

Balls Deep has been led by Mike Trout, who they picked up April 29 after he was dropped by the team that drafted him, Danby Sharks. The Sharks were 1 of just 16 teams that drafted Trout. Only 5 of those teams have held on to Mike for the whole season, including Team Thompson (RAZZBALL ROTO LEAGUE) who have made no lineup moves all year. Of these 5, none are challenging for a title, with Basement Dwellers (The Fantasy Booze Cruise) having the best record, in 5th place with 70 points. Bombo Rivera has his team in 3rd overall despite trading Trout on June 23 for Starlin Castro and C.J. Wilson. Bombo had picked up the Golden Trout in April, after 2 teams had already dropped him, and reaped 7 homers and 19 steals with a .338 average before dealing him.

Kiss The Midget (Sphinctory Staff Inflection) and Bushwood Varmint Cong (Epic Beardmen Division) each made big moves this week, adding 10 points to their total. The ECFBL increased their competitive index to 106.07, three and a half ahead of their closest rival, Original Recipe.

Expert League: Ryan Carey (Mastersball Carey) edged back into the lead, a half point up on Tim Dierkes (P.F. Flyer). Dalton Del Don (RotoWire Del Don), is in third, 3 back of Ryan. The Mastersball team collected an impressive 35 Ks in 25.2 IP from Justin Verlander and Marco Estrada this week. Rudy is in 4th, 9 and a half behind the leader, after another fine pitching performance. He finished with 6 wins, 6 saves, 63 strikeouts, an ERA of 2.31, and 1.15 WHIP. Grey also showed pitching strength (5 wins, 11 saves, an ERA of 3.10, and 1.29 WHIP) and moved into 6th place with a 3-point gain.

Weekly Leaders

Last week’s top squad, Team Street Justice (RCL 29), continued to be strong at the plate this week, hitting .287 with 18 home runs and 62 RBI, 55 runs, and 13 stolen bases. Ryan Braun (.433/8 Runs/3 HR/10 RBI/2 SB) and Andrew McCutchen (.364/1 SB) showed up this week, while Angel Pagan (.320/7 Runs/2 SB) followed up his superb week with another fine line. Aramis Ramirez (.346/3 HR/12 RBI), Chase Headley (.360/9 RBI/2 SB), Corey Hart (3 HR), and Ryan Howard (11 RBI) all helped TSJ hold on to a 1.5-point lead over Oh my Crawford.

captainpyper (RCL 3) also shone at the plate with a .343 average, 50 runs, 17 home runs, and 67 RBI, but managed only 2 stolen bases.

The Vincibles (Cracking The WHIP) had a great week on the mound, recording 6 wins and 10 saves with 56 strikeouts and an ERA of 1.24 and 1.03 WHIP, which was truly amazing since in the last 5 weeks my team never had an ERA better than 4.08. Gio Gonzalez(9 IP/0 ER/8 K),Hisashi Iwakuma (6 IP/0 ER), Kyle Kendrick(7.2 IP/2 ER/7 K), Mike Fiers (7.1 IP/1 ER/6 K), and Phil Hughes (7 IP/1 ER/5 K) each won a game while Clayton Kershaw contributed 9 strikeouts in 6 innings. John Axford added a win and 3 saves. And, the numbers could have been better, but I dropped Iwakuma because I figured he couldn’t keep it going against the Angels (Win/0 ER/7 K). OzzieLove Fidel (RCL 13) had a great pitching line as well with 7 wins, 6 saves, an ERA of 1.15, and 0.84 WHIP.